This invention relates to the art of making snow for ski resorts and the like. More particularly, it relates to improvements in apparatus utilized to control snow making devices for manufacturing snow for ski resorts.
It is well known that ski resorts utilize series of snow towers and/or snow guns on the ski slopes in order to manufacture snow with the combined use of water under pressure and compressed air in subfreezing conditions.
Ski resorts maintain crews of equipment operators whose job it is to travel the mountain sides to turn the snow making equipment on or off and to make other adjustments as required in order to maximize the manufacturer of man-made snow and to minimize waste of such manufactured snow. This requires the operator to move from snow making tower to tower or gun to gun in order to adjust or turn on and off the air and water valves supplying the respective snow making devices.
These exposed valves are generally mounted adjacent each snow tower on an air-water hydrant and are therefore subject to freezing and jamming due to freezing. They also present a year-around unwanted obstruction.
Additionally, the operator usually travels from tower to tower by snowmobile or an all-terrain vehicle and the setup at each tower is such that the operator is required to park and get off his vehicle, approach the tower and then free the water and air valves from snow and ice which is covering them and then manipulate each valve independently.
When there are many towers or snow guns on the ski slopes to maintain, this operation requires more than a considerable amount of the operator's time. In addition, the valves and/or lines may be found in a frozen condition and additional labor has to be expended in unfreezing the valve so that they can be manipulated.
Also, if the snow making device is being turned off, an additional drain valve must either be turned on or the water line actually disconnected from the hydrant to drain all water from the snow making device. Moisture can also accumulate in the air supply line and generally it must be also drained in order to prevent freeze-up in the supply lines from the hydrant to the snow making device. This all, of course, requires an unreasonable amount of expended labor which is costly.
In addition, when an operator disconnects the water and air supply lines which lead from the hydrant to the snow making device for draining the same when turning it off, the water and air supply lines can be easily mixed up and connected to the wrong supply upon reconnection and activation of the tower. The result is that the operator moves on and does not realize at the time that the snow making device is not operating correctly and that it is merely providing unwanted ice conditions on the ski slope.
Another major drawback of the snow making systems of the prior art for ski resorts is that in the off ski season when it is desired to use the ski slopes for other activities such as hiking or summer down-hill sports or activities, the hydrants of the prior art still protrude above ground as a hazardous condition as do the snow making towers or equipment itself. The hydrants are also expensive to manufacture.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a snow making system for ski resorts which in the off season leaves no objectional hazardous protrusions extending above the ski slope ground surface and provides a protected control system therefore which can be very easily and quickly attended to by an operator and prevents freeze-up of the valves and additionally automatically drains the snow making device when it is in an off condition.